Rolling Cars/"Flying Switch"

Is it still common for cars to be rolled across a rail yard with a crew using the hand break to stop it? I know there is or was a railroad in MA somewhere that uses gravity to get the cars on the right end of the engine. Because there is no passing track for the engine to run around they push the cars up hill on a different track, back the engine down onto the main move the engine forward then let the cars go with a crew member on board to engage the breaks when the cars are back on the main. I was just wondering if practices like this still are still common. I believe it was the Bay Colony Railroad.

Flying switches are still very common and no federal rule against it.
as for breaks those are for coffee, they use brakes to stop it.

Nice catch... I never even picked up on that So the "Fly Switch" name; is that the act of rolling the car or the example of the switching I gave?

They are illegal in UP's Houston Service Unit, though you'll still see them on some of the outlying jobs, those oldheads make them look really easy.

probably just against company rules, as lots of things use to go wrong
The practice was used a lot in Danbury Ct by Conrail before cluster was sold to HHRC.
but they did have a lot of incidents.

CSX does not allow flying drops.

I've done it as a Conrail newbie...it can be, in the space of two minutes, exhilarating, amusing, terrifying, and we're-hating-life day-ruining. It can save hours of time, over a day...but you'd better know what you're doing.

Since CSX is overpopulated with new guys, some of whose abilities are questionable, it's probably just as well. A guy who can't read a switch staring at it, won't be able to figure out a lineup at a dead run.

It's called a lot of things. We used to refer to it as "jerking cars by". Most terminal use different terminology for things. There are a couple of places on Florence Division that still allow "static drops" under limited conditions. They have to be at specific locations, sometimes by specific crews, or with permission of local trainmaster.

Used to be local freight crews did all their work on the outbound trip and made straight runs back to terminal on the inbound.

Most of our crews liked to make "running switches". We had one crew that used to jerk 18-20 cars by at a time,......... uphill. Of course, that same crew also jerked two cars by about a 1/2 mile further up the line, ....... and jerked it by a "red signal"!

BNSF banned the activity several years ago. In the area I worked it was referred to as "dutch drop".

Maybe we answered the second question first.

I think the first post asked about just rolling cars through a rail yard and stopping the cars movement with hand brakes. Some flat switching yards still "kick" cars (use the engine to get car moving and stop the engine , letting the car go under it own momentum) to classify cars. There's probably not as much riding the car and controlling speed by hand brake as there used to be. Yard tracks on Florence Division is only 10 MPH and coupling is supposed to be at 4 MPH or less. Usually they shove a car down, tie it down and then kick cars onto that car as they classify. Some tracks hold cars better than others, so the crews use their own judgment and experience when rolling cars off.

In the old days there might be 4-5 cars rolling down the ladder each going to separate tracks at one time.

The original question asked about rolling cars downhill from a standing start. Dutchrailnut incorrectly called that a flying switch which is not the same thing. A flying switch involves the locomotive and car accelerating. The car is then cut off, the loco speeds up to widen the distance between them. After the engine gets over the switch, it is immediately thrown for the other track and the car rolls into that track. Obviously this calls for some pretty fast action and while in years gone by it was a routine move which done as a matter of course, today it is banned by some railroads as noted by posters above.

B&M 1566 asked in the original post about setting cars on a hill, securing them, putting the loco on another track (while the cars remain motionless) and then rolling the cars downhill. That is a much slower paced operation and involves less risk of throwing the switch too soon or too late, or of cars cornering equipment which has not yet cleared. Some railroads may also ban THIS move. But the move originally asked about in the first post is not a flying switch.

We called the move "dropping a car" or "rolling one by", which is different from "making a drop", which is the "flying switch" mentioned. While it's easy to make a drop on a car, or cars, the class-1's are implementing rules, prohibiting the operation of handbrakes, on moving equipment. (Think SOFA) Occupying the end of a moving car, now tabboo, on most class-1's. The time saved doing these things, for some reason, is outweighed by the numbers of guys killed, or maimed, making these types of moves. (hey, a move up, is a move up......) Regards

Thanks for clarification BR&P, but both were done by Danbury Conrail crews, flatswitching in Danbury yard and putting engine in siding at Stevenson and letting train roll by, just to get engine to other end.

BR&P wrote:The original question asked about rolling cars downhill from a standing start. Dutchrailnut incorrectly called that a flying switch which is not the same thing. A flying switch involves the locomotive and car accelerating. The car is then cut off, the loco speeds up to widen the distance between them. After the engine gets over the switch, it is immediately thrown for the other track and the car rolls into that track. Obviously this calls for some pretty fast action and while in years gone by it was a routine move which done as a matter of course, today it is banned by some railroads as noted by posters above.

B&M 1566 asked in the original post about setting cars on a hill, securing them, putting the loco on another track (while the cars remain motionless) and then rolling the cars downhill. That is a much slower paced operation and involves less risk of throwing the switch too soon or too late, or of cars cornering equipment which has not yet cleared. Some railroads may also ban THIS move. But the move originally asked about in the first post is not a flying switch.

I taped such a move on video on the Finger Lakes Railway about 3 or 4 years ago. where they parked 2 Box Cars on a slightley inclined area set the brakes. They then moved the Locomotive on to a sideing th engineer protected the crossing while the conductor released the brakes and then let the cars roll pass the locomotive onto a diffrent sideing. The move was being done to put the cars behind the unit so that they could be spotted at that location to be unloaded.

Dangerous and not done on the UP SLC Hub (in theory). Although, the local crew out of Milford, UT suffered a tragic incident earlier this month as a result of similar actions:

excerpt from SLC Tribune:

'was standing on a ladder on the side of the freight car using a hand break in an attempt to link up with a locomotive.
The coupling failed and jolted the car, causing ------- to fall part way under the slow moving rail car that ran over both legs."

http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_6057938



I was taught and my philosophy when I was on the ground was to comply with the rules 100%, get off for each joint, tie 'em down if needed, take it slow. That's what they want, that is what they get.

Golden brings up a great point about SOFA. It looks thick and boring, but if your in the shack sometime at 0300, pick it up and read it. it will make you think twice about calling Mama on the cell phone while you are at the switch and asking what is for supper, and is desert an option tonight as well.